Sunday, 9 December 2012

Hi folks, I wasn't here for last weeks Handmade Monday... like lots of you I've been extremely busy, after all there is something special going on and it's a busy time of year, but unlike lots of you I haven't organised my time very well, it's got nothing to do with my husband having a few day's off work.... honestly.

I've been doing lots of cutting, sanding, painting and crafting, mostly personalised items, most of which I can't show you. Something to do with Christmas I think!

But I can show you lots of Fairy Doors being prepared in the Picto household,

Sunday, 25 November 2012

Hello all, apologies for such a short post from me for this Handmade Monday. I've been busy painting more Christmas Decorations, this time it's Santa's and Robins. They have a slightly glittery finish but unfortunately it's not showing up in the photo's.

Santa Claus Christmas Tree Decorations

Robin Redbreast Tree Decorations

These first ones are destined for a local shop I have some of my items in, I've also been asked by a second shop for decorations for part of their window display and I'm painting more for a local Art Gallery. These will all be on a sale or return basis so fingers crossed they will be the 'sale' rather than the 'return'. I'm really enjoying painting these (I may have even got carried away and forgotten when to stop!!) so I'm also selling them through my Folksy Shop my Wow Thank You Shop(when I get a chance to list them) and my Facebook Page

Got to run, I've got a kitchen full of Santa's waiting to be sprinkled with a bit of sparkle.

Sunday, 18 November 2012

On Thursday I had a table at an 'Autumn Shopping Event' at a lovely little village school in Cambridgeshire. The organiser found me through my facebook page, and she sent me an invitation asking if I'd like to attend. It was held in the school hall and started at 3pm untill 6.30pm. I went and I had a lovely time, there was a wood turner, a jam and chutney maker (mmm the jar of Banana & Lemon I bought is yummy), a Jewellery maker who sold lovely fresh water and seed pearl pieces. There was a lovely lady who knitted and crocheted wonderful Ruffle Necklaces and Scarves. It wasn't an exclusively handmade event but it was very pleasant non the less.

Did I take photo's?... No, did I remember my camera?... Yes, did I forget to take batteries?... No, but I forgot that they were flat, silly me.
My best sellers (besides my Fairy Doors) were the Christmas Countdown Chalkboards

Christmas Countdown Chalkboards

and Christmas Hangy Decorations. I'll be putting these in my Folksy Shop and in my Facebook albums.

Hand painted Christmas Hanging Decorations

Do you like my display tree? I used a couple of twigs from the garden, painted them white and sprinkled it with glitter. I set the twigs into a tub of stones and plaster of Paris to make sure it was sturdy.

I had a successful and pleasing afternoon, I hope you all had a pleasing week too. I'm off now to check out the great blogs over at The Handmade Harbour blogspot

Sunday, 11 November 2012

I hope you have all been well this week, I was struck down with the dreaded early winter cold and had a few days feeling sorry for myself, but hey ho things don't get done by themselves and I think the housework fairy has gone on holiday.
Ooo, did someone mention 'fairy'? oh yes that was me..so, talking of fairies!!! I was asked if I could do a Christmas Door similar to my small Fairy Doors, so I did, I liked it, so did my customer, so I made some more....
I painted wreaths hanging on the doors

Christmas Doors

I painted mistletoe

Doors in chilly ice colours

I painted stockings on some of the doors

Christmas doors in traditional red & green

I painted snow

These small Christmas doors measure a cute 2 x 3 inches

I'm due to do a Craft Fair at a village primary school this week so hopefully they will be well received, fingers crossed, I'll also be popping a couple in my Folksy Shop, question is, do I call them 'Christmas Fairy Doors'or just 'Christmas Doors'? what do you think?

They will have a little label on the back saying that it is a special door so Santa will always find his way into the home (even if you haven't got a chimney)

Before I go I'd like to thank every one who popped over and left messages (or just had a read) of my previous posts, I think I managed to get around most of the other blogs that take part in Handmade Monday, and I'd like to say a big thank you to Wendy for hosting this linky party.

Wednesday, 31 October 2012

I have taken part in my very first Craft Swap and it's the big reveal tonight, can you guess the theme? Yes, it's Halloween. The swap has been organised by the lovely Kat over at With-u-in-Mind.

I received my parcel in plenty of time and was so tempted to open it but keeping to the rules I put it to one side and practised patience.

So tonight's the night and I got my chance to open my parcel, I knew it was from Osk & Oly (because it was written on the back of the package) but I don't know who Osk & Oly are so I really don't know what to expect, so here goes......

My Halloween Swap Parcel

Wow, this looks an interesting selection, let's have a closer look......

I love this wreath, everything about it is perfect, the 'roses' are great and the ribbon sets it off lovely.

Halloween Wreath

The pin cushion is lovely, it's a great choice of fabrics and the centre is a real twig.

A Halloween Pin Cushion

The jar of sweeties is great, don't you just love that label. That will certainly be opened this evening.

Halloween Bon Bons

What a great selection of items, I feel so lucky with this swap and I'd like to say a big Thank You to Osk & Oly for sending such brilliant items and a huge Thank You to Kat for organising the swap, especially as throughout the last few months she has been moving house.

I hope you have all had as great a swap as I have.

Jan X

P.S... I now know that Osk & Oly is Penny over at Osk and Oly.com,So once again, a big thank you to Penny x

Sunday, 28 October 2012

What a busy time I've had, It's been the last weekend at the Pumpkin Patch Craft Fair and the weather wasn't kind. On Saturday it rained, it hailed, we had sleet and it was muddy. The crossbow people decided it was too cold and windy to set up, the ponies were spooked by the wind, the rain and the lightening so they were taken back to their stables and visitors were a bit thin on the ground, I don't blame them either, it was a day for most people to stay at home in comfort and warmth.
But don't think it was all doom and gloom, the people that did venture out were warm and friendly and I had a few sales and orders. Saturday was also the yearly Village Art Show to raise money for the Poppy Appeal. Money is raised by paying £1.00 for each painting entered into the show, the obligatory raffle and by donations. I entered my 'Toadstool Painting' and for those who haven't seen it before I posted about it Here.
I'm pleased to say that my painting was sold. We'll know in the next few days how much was raised altogether.

Sunday's weather faired a bit better and we had a busier day, (did you all remember to turn your clocks back)? My most popular items were my Zombie Art Dolls and Zombie Sock Dolls, after them came Wooden Bunting, Fairy Doors and Hearts.

Fairy Doors

Bunting for Grace

Wooden Bunting

So all in all a good weekend was had and a great but tiring month was enjoyed and I've signed up again for next year.

Sunday, 21 October 2012

After a rainy Friday it's been a bit of a soggy weekend at the Pumpkin Patch, this was my 3rd weekend and despite the wet and muddy field we had a great time, it's a really friendly event with a lovely atmosphere.

Sock Zombies & Sock Bats

My Sock Zombies and Bats sold out and I had to make more, here is the last one I made....

Zombie Doll

He was sold today so it looks like I'll be busy doing more for next weekend, along with Fairy Doors and Bunting, what a mixture, but hey, I'm not complaining, it's great to have sales.

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Halloween and the Pumpkin Patch has taken up most of my time this month but this week I did manage to join a new community page on Facebook Craft Couture. It was started by Gina of Zuleikha Art who has a shop over at Folksy, she says:- "Artisans
and Crafters can only be successful if their work is known and found
buy the wider community and not just within fellow crafting circles. A
difficult task and one which Craft Couture hopes to turn around. This
page will allow you to share your work via links and promoting your
latest works".

Anyone that runs a Facebook page knows that is not as easy as it once was. It is now more difficult to reach your fan base and we need to try other ways to increase visibility of posts in our fans’ news-feeds.
One way of doing this is by sharing and commenting on links. Did you know that comments on a post rank higher than a like on a post?
so by commenting and sharing posts and encouraging others to do the same will help ensure your updates continue to appear in
news-feeds.
Facebook also puts more weight on posts with photos attached so by simply adding a photo gives it a better chance of
appearing in your fans’ news-feeds, and it's much nicer to share a post that has a good picture.

"We only ask that you share on
your personal page amongst your family and friends as this will spread
the word beyond our craft community to those who do not craft themselves
but would love to buy handmade.We
love the concept of sharing work you like and that you feel the people
who follow you would be interested in. This can only create a more
natural talking point increasing your page activity and the activity to
the pages of work you share".

This page is not like other pages that
demand you 'like' for a 'like'. This suits me because I don't want to be
told what pages to like. If I see a page that I enjoy, admire or simply want to help boost followers I will
click the box and like them without demanding they like me in return.

Craft Couture are planning on choosing a photo from a followers album to use as their cover photo and changing it on a regular basis to give everyone a turn. At the moment they are using one of my Welcome Plaques.

Welcome Plaque

So why not pop over and have a nosey, if you like what you see and want do more networking or just support crafters and artisans then feel free to 'like' (or not). You don't need to be a crafter to join.

Monday, 8 October 2012

I'm a bit later than usual with my post for Handmade Monday but I think I've just sneaked in in time.
I've completed the first weekend of the mammoth Pumpkin Patch Event, it was a great but tiring weekend and I just wanted to share a few photo's.

There were lots of pumpkins to choose from........

This is a heavy one

I'd never seen these blue pumpkins before, apparently they are great for pies....

Sunday, 30 September 2012

This week I entered a small painting into a 'Blog Challenge' over at The Crafty Network, I didn't win but I was Runner up which I'm really pleased with, I'm also pleased with the painting and I'll be taking it with me at my next craft fair.

The brief for the challenge was Autumn. This is how the painting started to develop, I wrote down all the colours I used as I went along and started building up layers, do you like my uber sophisticated palettes?

Autumn Toadstools, the beginning..

Toadstool Painting

The Challenge is held fortnightly by Linda, she is a great networker and we all know how important that can be, anyone can enter as long as the item is handmade, you can enter jewellery, sewing, knitted items or anything else handmade. There isn't a 'prize' as such but everyone gets exposure on the Crafty Network blog, on facebook and on twitter. So if you want to give it a go then follow the link to The Crafty Network facebook or Blog.

I'm linking this post to Handmade Harbour.blogspot so pop over and have a nosey at all the other great blogs that are taking part in Handmade Monday.

Before I go I would like to thank you for all your kind words regarding my cortisone injection, it is starting to feel a lot better, I was told that it is not a 'miracle'cure for my wrist pain but I didn't realise that it would hurt so much in the first few days, but thankfully, now it is starting to do it's job and I'm glad I went ahead and got it done.

Sunday, 23 September 2012

I hope you are all well and are keeping warm and dry, it's certainly a bit cooler of late and you can definitely tell that we are quickly galloping into Autumn.

I thought I'd show you one of the new Welcome Plaques I painted......

Welcome Plaque

and a bit of a tease photo of my sock monkey's with a difference.... the biggest difference is they are not monkeys any more....

This is a very short post from me this week, I've had a Cortisone injection in my wrist and it's slowed me down, hopefully not for too long and I'll have more to show you next week.

It's Handmade Monday time and I have linked this post to Handmade Harbour's linky party, I will make an apology now in case I don't get around to commenting on all of your posts this week, although I will read them all :)

Sunday, 16 September 2012

Busy, busy, busy, at the moment I'm making lots of stock ready for The Pumpkin Patch Fair. This event is nice and local to me and lots of fun, I only attended one weekend last year, you can read about it HERE, but this year I'm attending every weekend in October, phew 8 fairs in one month!!......my hubby Pat and my son are going to help out and it is close enough to be able to pop home for short bursts, I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good weather.

My chalkboards were very popular last year, both the Halloween and the Christmas ones.....

Pumpkin Chalkboard

Scull & Crossbones Chalkboard

Christmas Chalkboard

I will be putting these into my Folksy Shop and my WowThankyou Shop and as some of you may know, I have a few of my items in a local Bricks & Mortar Shop, mainly my Fairy Doors and Diary/Book Covers, I wrote a bit about it HERE as a guest blogger, well, things are doing well, quite a few items have sold (I had a nice cheque in the post) and I've happily taken more stock to the shop, I'm going to pop in with a couple of Chalkboards next week so wish me luck that they will be accepted to display.

I've also been busy making some zombie and monster type items for Halloween but they are not ready to show just yet so watch this space.
I mentioned being a 'guest blogger', it was great to do, so if you would like to be a guest blogger then pop over to Jill at Christmas Pie Crafts, I'm sure that she'd love to hear from you.

Sunday, 9 September 2012

Do you see things that aren't really there? No I don't mean ghosties or spooks, I mean pictures in the cloud formations or faces in the flame of a fire. I do, I send my hubby crazy sometimes with comments like, 'can you see a dog in that shadow'? or 'oooh, look at that face in that wallpaper pattern'.

A few days ago I was gazing out of the kitchen window while waiting for the kettle to boil, I was thinking that I really need to get out and do some weeding when I spotted a bunny rabbit, or possibly a hare, it's disguised as a weed, it's about 18 inches tall to the tip of it's ears and I'd swear it appeared overnight.

Bunny Weed

Can you see it?, ok, take a step back from the screen, can you see it now?, if you still can't see what I can see, screw your eyes up and make the picture a bit fuzzy, surely you can see it now. Aren't they magnificent ears?

So using this image as inspiration I jotted down a few sketches....

Quick bunny sketches

Bunny disguised as a weed

I'll pop these with my other sketches of 'things that are not really there'. Yes I really do have a folder called 'Things that are not really there'
So next time you are out and about see if you can find something that isn't there, you may even find a bunny.